Staying Healthy During The Pandemic
It’s over a year now since we began to adjust to the many challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. How are you doing? And what questions do you have about staying healthy as things are opening up and more and more people are getting vaccinated? Let’s talk about how to keep your health and well being front and center as we start to enjoy some of the things we’ve missed so dearly.
Tune in to KPFA.org, 94.1FM, 4/5/21 from 2-3PM (PST)
Call us at 1-800-958-9008 with your questions and concerns regarding Covid-19, your general health, and ways to keep your immune system strong.
GUEST
Harry McIlroy, MD, is an integrative physician certified with the Institute for Functional Medicine. Before medical school and completion of residency at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center, he had a background in nutrition and obtained a Master’s degree in acupuncture and Chinese medicine. Dr. Harry strives to provide patients with health tools that empower them to improve their well being. Some of his specialities include Medical Cannabis, Chronic Pain, Digestive Health, Regenerative Medicine, and Insomnia. He serves as a volunteer clinical faculty member for the UCSF Medical School, and mentors and teaches medical residents at the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center, which provides medical care to underserved populations.
If you want to hear the previous show I did 4/2020 with Dr. Harry McIlroy, you can listen here for many good tips on health: https://www.nurserona.com/staying-healthy-during-covid-19/
Uprooting Racism in Medicine: Where Do We Go From Here?
In the US, Black and other ethnic minority groups are hit the hardest by Covid-19, creating a renewed focus on racism in healthcare. There are so many false beliefs that many doctors and other healthcare providers still work from about Black people, such as their skin being thicker, their blood coagulating differently, and that they feel less pain. When doctors are blind to their racist beliefs and attitudes it can lead to less effective treatments, more pain, humiliation, and even death. It’s time that doctors, medical students, and other health care professionals take anti-racist study seriously and get support to see bias in themselves and in others.
On 1/18/21 we had a conversation on About Health (94.1FM KPFA.org) to discuss racism in medical care. We heard about personal experiences of racism and some of the history that has added to the mistrust of doctors based on racist practices. You can hear that show here: https://www.nurserona.com/racism-in-medical-care/ It seemed important to me to do a follow up show to continue the conversation.
What are ways to uproot racism in medicine?
Listen now to About Health on KPFA.org—94.1FM (3/22/21)
**https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=353495**
Dr. Jeff Ritterman is a retired cardiologist from Kaiser Richmond where he worked for 29 years. He was also a Professor and Clinical Coordinator for the Physician Assistant Program at Touro University and worked for three years doing Adult Primary Care at Lifelong Medical in San Pablo. He is on the Board of Directors of San Francisco Physicians for Social Responsibility and served on the Richmond City Council when they introduced the first municipal Soda Tax. In the 1980s he helped start the Salvador Medical Relief Fund and the Committee for Health Rights in Central America. He personally delivered medical supplies to Salvador Refugees in Honduras and Costa Rica. In the 1990s he started the Southern Africa Medical Aid Fund and delivered medical supplies to the African National Congress’s Clinic in Lusaka, Zambia. He has helped start two Racial Equity Book Clubs, one with Kaiser Oakland and the other with San Francisco Physicians for Social Responsibility. He is the author of two recent papers on combating Medical Racism.You can read one of them here: http://www.thepermanentejournal.org/issues/2021/spring/7609-the-ally-book-club-a-tool-for-challenging-racism.html
Dr. Jeff Ritterman is a retired cardiologist from Kaiser Richmond where he worked for 29 years. He was also a Professor and Clinical Coordinator for the Physician Assistant Program at Touro University and worked for three years doing Adult Primary Care at Lifelong Medical in San Pablo. He is on the Board of Directors of San Francisco Physicians for Social Responsibility and served on the Richmond City Council when they introduced the first municipal Soda Tax. In the 1980s he helped start the Salvador Medical Relief Fund and the Committee for Health Rights in Central America. He personally delivered medical supplies to Salvador Refugees in Honduras and Costa Rica. In the 1990s he started the Southern Africa Medical Aid Fund and delivered medical supplies to the African National Congress’s Clinic in Lusaka, Zambia. He has helped start two Racial Equity Book Clubs, one with Kaiser Oakland and the other with San Francisco Physicians for Social Responsibility. He is the author of two recent papers on combating Medical Racism.You can read one of them here: 
Dr. Nadia Gaber is a postdoctoral fellow in the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, studying the influence of the chemical industry on the science and regulation of toxic chemicals. She received her PhD in medical anthropology and is obtaining her MD at UCSF with support from the NIH Medical Scientist Training Program. Her research in Detroit and Flint looked at the politics of urban health and safety in the U.S. through the lens of water. She is continuing to develop that research in a book project called Life After Water that blends ethnography, grassroots epidemiology and critical race theory. She is a member of the new UCSF REPAIR Project, a three-year initiative to combat anti-Black racism in the health sciences and has organized off-campus with groups like Critical Resistance and the Arab Resource and Organizing Center.
Some References From Dr. Ritterman
1. Washington HA. Medical apartheid. New York, NY: Anchor Books; 2008.
2. Owens DC. Medical bondage. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press; 2017.
3. Diangelo R. White fragility. Boston, MA: Beacon Press; 2018.
4. Kendi IX. How to be an antiracist. New York, NY: Random House; 2019.
5. Metzl JM. Dying of whiteness. New York, NY: Basic Books; 2019.
6. Hoffman KM, Trawalter S, Axt JR, Oliver MN. Racial bias in pain assessment and treatment recommendations, and false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2016 April;113:4296-301. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas 15160471131073 Accessed August 20, 2020.
Estrangement in Families
Many people who are dealing with estrangement in their family don’t talk about it because of shame and fear of judgement. Dealing with estrangement takes an emotional and often physical toll on the people involved. You are not alone! There are things that can sometimes help family members reunite.
Listen now to the show on 3/8/21 on KPFA.org—94.1FM Radio, for an interview with Dr. Joshua Coleman, author of the newly released book, Rules of Estrangement: Why Adult Children Cut Ties and How to Heal the Conflict.
** https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=352549 **
Dr. Joshua Coleman is a psychologist in private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area and a Senior Fellow with the Council on Contemporary Families. He is the co-editor, along with historian Stephanie Coontz of seven online volumes of Unconventional Wisdom: News You Can Use, a compendium of note worthy research on the contemporary family, gender, sexuality, poverty, and work-family issues. His new book, Rules of Estrangement: Why Adult Children Cut Ties and How to Heal the Conflict, was just released by Penguin Random House. He is frequently contacted by the media for opinions and commentary about changes in the American family. He has been a frequent guest on the Today Show, NPR, The BBC, NYU Psychiatry Radio, and has also been featured on Sesame Street, 20/20, Good Morning America, America Online Coaches, PBS, and numerous news programs for television. He has written for the the Atlantic, The New York Times, CNN, NBC, Aeon, Psychology Today, the SF Chronicle and other publications. He is the father of three adult children, has a teenage grandson, and lives with his wife in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Dr. Joshua Coleman is a psychologist in private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area and a Senior Fellow with the Council on Contemporary Families. He is the co-editor, along with historian Stephanie Coontz of seven online volumes of Unconventional Wisdom: News You Can Use, a compendium of note worthy research on the contemporary family, gender, sexuality, poverty, and work-family issues. His new book, Rules of Estrangement
2/15/21 Dementia: Culture, Race, and Care
Listen now to the 2/15/21 show on KPFA.org (94.1FM)
https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=351134
50 million people are living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias worldwide, and there are nearly 10 million new cases every year. Here in the U.S. African Americans are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s and other dementias, but only half as likely to get a proper diagnosis, treatment or access to support resources.Join us to talk about the diagnosis and care of people with dementia and how culture, race, and health disparities are important parts of the discussion.
Guest:
Karla Fields is a Community Outreach Specialist at the Alzheimer’s Association. Her primary focus is outreach to the African American community. She is a former educator and has over 30 years experience in education, public relations, fundraising and civic engagement. In her free time Karla enjoys spending time with her husband and three children. https://www.alz.org/norcal
Type 2 Diabetes: A Model to Reduce Shame and Blame
Listen now to the show on February 1, 2021 on @KPFA.org— 94.1FM, at 2PM.
**https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=350131**
My guest, Veronique Mead, reports: Dr. Vincent Felitti, co-investigator of the original and most well known ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) study spent over 25 years running a weight loss clinic. His team found that trauma is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and also for bigger bodies. “Obesity,” it turns out, is a “biomarker.” Bigger bodies are an indication of stressful events in the past and a physiology that is no longer regulating in an optimal way for current circumstances.” (Wickrama, 2017; Felitti, 2010).” Veronique Mead says, “There is a profound and deeply shaming stigma assigned to larger bodies or having type 2 diabetes (T2D) in our culture.”
We’ll talk about how to reduce shame and blame and deepen our understanding of the connection between adverse experiences and disease.
Veronique Mead was an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and practicing physician at the New Hampshire-Dartmouth Family Practice Residency program when she changed careers and retrained as a Somatic Trauma Therapist. For the past 2 decades she has been integrating the science of adversity into a new model for making sense of chronic illness and has pulled together a database of more than 12,000 references. She also draws from her personal journey of gradual recovery from disabling chronic fatigue syndrome and emphasizes how effects of trauma are not psychological as is still often mistakenly believed. Veronique shares the science on her blog, ChronicIllnessTraumaStudies.com
Racism in Medical Care
Not all patients are treated equally.
Racism affects many aspects of healthcare in our country, including pregnancy and infant mortality, emergency treatment, pain management, addiction, and mental health care. Actually, you can find racism in any part of the medical care system as long as there are people who are not doing the vital anti-racist work that we are all called upon to do.
***LISTEN NOW: https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=349349 ***
This show was on 1/18/21 on 94.1FM—KPFA.org
This was a timely discussion about racism experienced in medical care settings.
Some health care professionals actively discriminate against patients, even though it’s rare that they are held accountable. During the Covid-19 crisis we have also seen how racism has caused more deaths in the Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities. “A May 2020 study estimates that in the U. S., Black people were 3.57 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than white people. Similarly, the risk of death within the Latinx population was nearly twice that of the white population.”
Guests:
J. Miakoda Taylor is the founder and Lead Steward of Fierce Allies (www.fierceallies.com), a body of work, suite of services, and community of practitioners catalyzing dynamics of power and privilege towards equity and justice. The work integrates the fields of Restorative Justice, Somatic Trauma Healing, embodied and popular education, group facilitation, conflict transformation, and storytelling. The community of practice is comprised of leaders from a wide range of sectors including: public health, environmental justice, child and family services, technology, immigrant rights, criminal justice, and food sovereignty. Together, Miakoda and the community of practice are creating a new road map for intersectional collaborations and coalitions. An award winning photographer, Miakoda has received several fellowships, including a J. W. Fulbright, to conduct photo-ethnographic studies of diverse cultures around the globe. Images from their work focused on street children and women working as domestic servants in South Africa from 1993-1996, have been exhibited throughout the world, most notably as part of the United Nations World Conference Against Racism and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They are also an avid meditator, yogi, and dancer.
Diane Barnes an actor, writer, speaker and physician. She is a graduate of Stanford University and the Yale University School of Medicine, with postdoc training at UCSF and Stanford. Her award winning solo show, My Stroke of Luck, developed with David Ford, shares her story of stroke, recovery, and reinvention as a single mother and working physician. Extended multiple times at The Marsh, it has played internationally, at numerous theater festivals, universities, and medical schools. The murder of George Floyd inspired her new work, Not One of Us, a comedic/dramatic exploration of the intersection of class, race, gender and privilege in her life. Also developed with David Ford, Not One of Us, premiers at the Playground Solo Performance Festival Jan 22-Feb 7th, 2021. This version revolves around her experiences in medicine: from training at Yale Medical School to Lagos Nigeria, from practicing medicine to becoming a patient. Diane is a Meisner-trained actor and BATS trained improvisor. She completed the Global Identities Workshop with Anna Deveare Smith, ACT Summer Intensives and Berkeley Rep Spring Intensive.
Resources from Diane Barnes:
-
Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present, by Harriet A Jackson
-
Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century, by Dorothy Roberts
-
Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty, by Dorothy Roberts
-
Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology, by Deirdre Cooper Owens
-
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMms2025768 Misrepresenting Race — The Role of Medical Schools in Propagating Physician Bias, New England Journal of Medicine.
Your Health in 2021: Food, Mood, and Renewal
During this time of heightened stress and uncertainty, are you feeling good about your body, energy, and overall well-being? How is your mood, and do you turn toward food for comfort? There are ways to get back in touch with what nourishes you and helps you stay well in body and mind. There is no “One size fits all” formula for health. We are all different, and finding ways to tap into our body’s wisdom can be transformative.
Listen Now to the 1/4/21 show on About Health on KPFA.org—94.1FM
*** https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=348385 ***
Guests:
Valerie Tookes is a National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC) and an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC) who believes that trusting your body’s deepest wisdom, equals true health. Her work is devoted to helping women transform their world by changing the way that they see their body. She works as a Health and Wellness Coach with The Women’s Vitality Center in Berkeley; and as a Lead Coach with the online Courageous Living Coach Certification Program. A graduate of Florida State University, University of Oregon, California Institute for Integral Studies, and the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, she happily lives in Oakland with her new rescue kitty Austin. To find out more go to https://womensvitalitycenter.com/
Valerie Tookes is a National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC) and an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC) who believes that trusting your body’s deepest wisdom, equals true health. Her work is devoted to helping women transform their world by changing the way that they see their body. She works as a Health and Wellness Coach with The Women’s Vitality Center in Berkeley; and as a Lead Coach with the online Courageous Living Coach Certification Program. A graduate of Florida State University, University of Oregon, California Institute for Integral Studies, and the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, she happily lives in Oakland with her new rescue kitty Austin. To find out more go to 
L. Rebecca (Reba) Connell, LCSW, (LCS 19814) Is a Certified Mental Health Integrative Medicine Professional, who teaches Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Nourish Your Mood: Meditation and Eating with the Brain in Mind classes. She is deeply engaged with science-based and traditional approaches to healing through food and self-care. She is a graduate of Brown University, where she focused on multicultural women’s issues, and UC Berkeley, where she researched the connection between depression and pain in women at UCSF. Finding mindfulness, movement, and food to make big differences in her own healing from chronic pain, she feels called to share what she is learning with others and to help people make their own discoveries. While focused on studying food for mood, sleep, and pain, she accidentally learned about the latest developments in the science of nutrition.You can find out more at http://www.centerforstressreduction.com.
Pandemic Update
Listen now to the 12/21/20 show on KPFA radio—94.1FM, for current information about vaccines, Covid-19 cases, and what we can do to stay safe and out of the hospital.
https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=347531
More than 17 million people in the U.S. have had confirmed coronavirus infections and more than 310,000 have died of COVID-19. Tens of thousands of new cases are reported daily nationwide, and California has had over 23,000 deaths. There is hope with the rollout of vaccines, but it will be some time before we can be confident of our health and safety.
I was joined by Dr. Christine Doyle. So grateful she took time to answer some of our questions.
Dr. Christine Doyle is a physician trained in anesthesiology and critical care. She practices in the Silicon Valley, and is the Immediate Past President of the California Society of Anesthesiologists (CSA), and a Fellow of the American Society of Anesthesiology. As President of the CSA when the coronavirus pandemic hit, Dr. Doyle was responsible for initial recommendations about protective equipment, and performing surgery, for members of the society. She also provided expert background information for state officials who were developing guidelines and changing protocols for California healthcare systems. She continues to serve as a leading voice in professional medical association activities through political advocacy, engaging with the media, and keeping anesthesiologists informed of key issues facing their specialty.
Medical Myths and Why We Fall for Them
Listen now to the show on 11/30/20, KPFA radio, 94.1FM, About Health
https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=346379
It’s often difficult to separate health information from health misinformation. What are reliable sources? Are you more likely to believe a dramatic story about a disease rather than a recent study in a medical journal? Is what you are reading about the Covid-19 pandemic based on science or are social media sites spreading news that is even more contagious than the virus?
My guest, Dr. Seema Yasmin, has written a book called Viral BS: Medical Myths and Why We Fall for Them, where she dispels common myths and casts a critical eye on the cultural misconceptions, disinformation, and conspiracy theories surrounding health.
Dr. Seema Yasmin is a Stanford professor, medical analyst for CNN, and science correspondent for Conde Nast Entertainment. She is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, medical doctor, disease detective and author, known for her reporting on Ebola and Zika. Her new book is Viral BS: Medical Myths and Why We Fall for Them. Dr. Yasmin was a disease detective in the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention where she chased outbreaks in maximum-security prisons, American Indian reservations, border towns, and hospitals. You can find our more about her at seemayasmin.com, or connect on Twitter @DoctorYasmin and Instagram: @drseemayasmin.
Understanding Depression
Listen now at to the show from 11/23/20 on KPFA.org—94.1FM
https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=345836
I was in conversation with Monique Thompson, PhD, about her new book, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression
During these stressful times many people are feeling anxious and depressed, and some people are struggling with grief from the loss of a loved one. Feeling stress, grief, or having the blues, is not the same as suffering from depression. Depression is one of the most common mood disorders, and is highly treatable, although no two people are affected the same way by depression and there is no “one-size-fits-all” for treatment.
1-800-273-8255 is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, call this number. The Lifeline provides 24/7 free and confidential support for people in distress, and resources for you and your loved ones.
Guest:
Monique Thompson is a licensed clinical psychologist. She received a doctoral degree in clinical psychology from California School of Professional Psychology. She is a certified cognitive therapist and Diplomate of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy. Dr. Thompson is trained in Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), an empirically supported treatment for insomnia and other sleep disorders. Dr. Thompson has extensive experience providing individualized cognitive therapy to adults and teens. She treats depression, anxiety disorders, sleep disorders, executive functioning deficits, and challenging life transitions. She has practiced in a variety of settings, including Kaiser Permanente in Walnut Creek and Pleasanton, UC Berkeley, and private practice. She spent several years at the Golden Bear Mood and Sleep Research Center at UC Berkeley as a member of a treatment development team, and has published research on memory mechanisms and interventions to improve individual therapy outcomes. She is adjunct faculty at UC Berkeley Extension. She recently co-authored a book on Teen Insomnia with Dr. Michael Tompkins, The Teen Insomnia Workbook. Her second book, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression: Strategies to Challenge Negative Thinking and Start Living Your Life was released on November 13, 2020. You can reach her at Monique Thompson, PsyD.
(510) 652-4455, ext. 1.
Follow me on:
I'm thrilled to offer my book to parents, teachers, therapists, and anyone who cares for and about children. If you would like to set up a presentation or training for your child's school, or your work place, contact me at rona@nurserona.com.
Is That Me Yelling? is available in most bookstores and at Amazon
"Engaging and practical, humorous and evidence-based, prescriptive but not preachy, authoritative yet never stuffy, Is That Me Yelling? quickly rises to the top of the many parenting books I've ever read. Rona Renner provides thoughtful and achievable solutions. If you're a parent who has ever yelled at your kid and wished you hadn't, this book is for you."
—Stephen P. Hinshaw, PhD, professor in the department of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley; and vice-chair of psychology at the University of California, S.F.
"Is That Me Yelling? is a complete and compassionate companion for every parent and educator. With excellent examples from her extensive professional and personal experience, nurse Rona illustrates fundamental psychological principles and functional parenting practices with empathy and enthusiasm."
—Marisol Muñoz-Kiehne, PhD, clinical psychologist, parent educator, radio host, and author.
